OS06/Transcript
This is the written version of #OnlineStar's sixth episode. The Piano Room Mai is definitely busy. It's only been about an week since she joined the orchestra, and maybe that that's the problem. She wants to be able to play the pieces, the orchestra currently practises, as good as she can. Once she returns home from school, she starts practising with her violin. As well, she still tries to somehow solve the problem of being elected as vice-class representative. Humming the melody of '… wo suki', the coupling track of Kira's newest single 'My Place wo Sagashiteru', she looks at the sheets, she has been writing on. It's full of notes about the way, student councils work. It's evening. "That should work out." Mai tells herself. Her computer is still turned on and shows the recording of '… wo suki'. She returns to the computer and opens the OnlineStar program. The lyrics of the song, she has been working on are displayed. "Kira-chan's next single will be released tomorrow." Mai thinks. "I'm glad I finished this song in time." She returns to the main menu which displays a new point, 'Releases'. She opens the recent project called 'My Place wo Sagashiteru' which is next to the older project 'Fairytale Romance'. Mai nods, happy with the result, she has gotten. She looks over the cover and data of the single before 'sending' the song. While she leans back, glaring to the keyboard next to her that is still switched on, the computer sends the single to someone unknown. "I almost had no time to finish it…" Mai realizes. "I really need to convince Takura-san somehow that he actually does what he is supposed to do." While she says so, a message arrives on her phone. 20:01 April Parker: Wanna meet tomorrow after school? Mai sighs, taking the phone and starting to type. "Yeah. And I had no time to meet April and Luca." Mai speaks as she types. 20:02 Sakaki Mai: No time. I have to attend a student's council meeting. It doesn't take long until April and Luca both read the message of the chat, April creatively named "April, Luca & Mai". 20:02 Luca Parker: Weren't you just vice-rep? 20:02 Sakaki Mai: Seems like our class rep doesn't care. 20:02 April Parker: RIP. Saturday? Mai looks at the violin laying on her bed. "I wanted to practise, and play a bit piano. I haven't come to do that since a week." Mai says. "Okay. I did play a bit, but that was for Kira, and I actually wanted to play a bit for myself. But meeting up with April and Luca would be nice too…" 20:03 Sakaki Mai: Sleepover with movies like always? 20:03 April Parker: You got it! Mai smiles as her mother calls her to come to dinner. The opening starts. At the end of the lunch break of the following day, Mai accompanies Yumi, Aki and Ayu while they are on the way back to their class room. Yumi, walking next to Aki, is reading in their English book while they are walking. "So, Mai-chan, how are you doing with practise?" Ayu asks Mai. "Um… I hope, I'm doing good?" Mai replies slowly. She seems to be unsure what exactly she should reply. "I'm sure you can do that." Aki adds. "Especially since there are no tests lining up." "By the way", Yumi looks up, "Today is your first student council meeting, right?" "Oh, you're so lucky!" Aki suddenly exclaims. She sighs theatrical. "I honestly don't think so." Mai replied. "But you're in the students council. With Ishikawa-senpai!" Mai blinks, not knowing who she is talking about. Ayu smiles and the four girls stop. "Sorry, if I am not informed that much, but, who is Ishikawa-senpai?" Ayu starts to laugh, amused by Mai's lack of knowledge. "Ishikawa-senpai is the students council president." She explains. "You really haven't gotten into the social life of the school, have you?" Mai isn't given any time to answer as Aki already speaks up, "Exactly! Ishikawa-senpai is extremely nice. And he is the top student of his grade too." "He is?" Mai asks. "Yeah." Ayu nods. "And he often helps other students if they ask him. He's said to be great in explaining too." "And, he looks good." Aki continues. "And he is rich, from what I've heard." "Even the teachers seem to respect him a lot." Yumi agrees, looking up from her book. "He is nice." "Well, Eriko-senpai is surely lucky." Ayu agreed. "I wouldn't mind being Ishikawa-senpai's girlfriend." "Huh?" "Ishikawa-senpai and Eriko-senpai aren't related, but they live together." Yumi explains. "And despite being polite and nice towards everyone, no one is actually a friend of Hishikawa-senpai, excluding Eriko-senpai. So, everyone thinks that they are a couple." Mai nods. "I understand." "I wonder why he doesn't seem to have friends aside of Eriko-senpai though." Aki thinks aloud. "I am sure that many would like to be his friend." "He seems to be a bit… distant?" Ayu says. Aki nods euphoric, "But that makes him even more interesting!" While the four girls continue walking towards their class room, the topic of the conversation, Ishikawa Ren, is also walking through the corridor. He, and Eriko, are on the way to their classroom and currently talking about the upcoming event, the students council organizes. "Maybe we could try to cover not only the stereotype professions." Eriko proposes. "I agree with you, and I see your point", Ren replies, "but we cannot cover every single profession that exists in this world." Eriko laughs. "I wasn't going to do that!" Ren smiles too. "I know." He says. "But it would be boring to just include the typical ones." Eriko repeats, "Maybe we could ask in the meeting today if anyone has got an idea for some 'special' ones." "Let me guess. You want to include something with music, right?" Ren asks. Eriko sighs. It was obvious that she wanted to do that. "Well, at least one won't hurt, right?" Ren nods, taking out a tablet and opening a document concerning the event. "Well…" While their discussion continues, the margin between the two third-year students and the four girls is getting closer and closer. Shortly before they meet, Mai turns around, walking backwards in front of Ayu. "But still, I'm not that happy about it. I mean, I am not even-" She can't continue further, as she walks into another student who is coming from the direction, she is walking to backwards. Unlike Mai, Ren is able to hold his balance, but Mai falls down onto the floor. "Of course, it always happens to me." Mai grumbles on the floor before repeating an apology. She hadn't seen into who she ran, but Aki's reaction - hiding behind Ayu - explained it. Someone's hand appears in front of Mai's face who now looks up. It's Eriko who helps her standing up. "Huh? Um…Thanks. Wait, no.. I'm sorry." Mai apologizes again. "No problem." The students council president replies without looking. He is fixed on his tablet and absent in his mind. Eriko, next to him, giggles a bit before turning to Mai again, "Are you okay?" She asks, "You felt pretty hard, didn't you?" "Nothing special, Senpai. But thanks for the concern." Mai replies while taking her bag that felt too. Eriko nods. "That's good." She says before following Ren who has already left again. "See you later, right?." "Um… Y-yes." Mai says. "Well…" Ayu starts. She cannot finish her sentence as Aki starts to sigh theatrical and loud. Ayu and Yumi laugh, and Mai smiles too. After school, Mai quickly heads to the students council meeting. "The students council in our school works on their own way." Mai thinks. "While all students can join it, at least one member of all classes has to attend the monthly meeting. That are the class-representatives. And while Takura-san technically should do that, he isn't interested in doing it at all. But of what he said, it wasn't much more than listening and raising one's hand when voting either way." She enters the room alongside other students. Typically, Mai doesn't know what to do next, but Eriko notices her. Leaving the conversation, she had until now, she approaches Mai. "Mai-chan, hello!" She greets her. "You play substitute for Takura?" She asks. Hesitating, Mai nods, "Yes, I do." "Seriously, that guy is horrible. I haven't seen him once in the meetings this whole year. How come that your class elected him?" "I don't know. I was ill at the beginning of the school year." "Well, I guess-" She wants to continue, but Ren taps her shoulder. "Eriko, are you coming?" He asks. "We're about to start." It seems like he didn't even notice Mai. "Hm? Sure." "The meeting of the council and the class representatives was interesting, but until the topic of the upcoming job orientation came up, it was pretty boring. To be honest, at first, I wondered how Ishikawa-senpai was elected as students council president. The charm, he had going by Aki-san, seemed to miss me. To me, he was just a student, maybe even if he had good grades. He didn't seem that much nice to me…" The meeting passes by, and Mai quickly wanders away in her mind. "Concerning the job orientation," Saito Yasu, a 2nd year student who was a member of the students council, starts speaking, "Currently, we have the majority of presentations planned, but we would like to include a few other directions too. The committee is missing something in following directions." He starts a presentation on the screen behind him which Mai reads. "University? I could ask my mother, she's a professor after all…" She tells herself. The speaking student must have heard her. After the meeting has ended, Yasu approaches Mai. "Excuse me?" "Hm?" Mai turns around to him, stopping to walk. "I think you said something like 'your mother is a prof at an university'." He says. "Is that true?" Mai nods, "Yes. Sakaki Rena." She says. "She's part of the medicine faculty." "Do you think, it would be possible to ask her if she could speak about how universities work and so on?" "Uh…I don't know… But I could ask her." "That would be great!" Yasu smiles. "Thanks, Sakaki-san!" On the way back, Mai starts her MP3-Player and listens to the song. She looks down at the lyrics sheet on her phone. "Every day, my fingers tremble But yet, once again, I touch you At places, no other dares to Unknown what the result will be No one should ever know It's my little secret If my friends would learn of it It would change everything I know, I know… Somehow, it is exciting Playing with you in the dark Suddenly, the night turns to a day I could never leave you again Somehow, it has something of a love story You and me, meeting in the lonely room How far are we going to go this time? My secret goal, will we reach it? If I could, I would spend every second of my life Just with you Whatever I say Everything stays the same I won't stop loving you Questioning this, Would be like Questioning the whole world Liking 'you' With my trembling finger, I reach out for you Yet, sometimes, you coldly reject me In those seconds, I am the one, you play with, right? Of course, I should have known… My imagination wanders Although, it's not the romance that connects us I ignore it either way I know, I know You might not feel the same as I do, But I can't help but love you Even if there is no logic, You make me return, not caring if I want or not Whatever others say Everything stays the same I won't stop loving you Questioning this, Would be like Questioning the smallest things Liking 'you'" She reads the lyrics while returning home, and the song plays in the background. She opens the video, Kira's channel has uploaded of the song. Unlike before, it's just a lyrics video. She didn't finish the song in time to start planning a music video. Again, it's just a preview, but quite a few persons already watched it. When passing the park, she looks around. She runs towards a rather empty part of the park just as the refrain starts and starts dancing a part of the song. Of course, her clumsiness hit her and she stumbles over her own foots. Today, Mai is in a good mood, and just raises again, just to stumble over her school bag that happened to be in front of her. Laughing over her own clumsiness, she continues returning home. Once reaching her home, Mai falls down onto her bed, still humming the melody of '… wo suki'. "Survived." She declares. "I survived it." It doesn't take much time until her phone vibrates next to her. As she is in a good mood, Mai takes the phone, reading the message, April just sent. 17:23 April Parker: How was the meeting? She quickly types an answer. 17:23 Sakaki Mai: Rather boring, I guess. It doesn't take much time until the two girls start a video call. April is still in school but sitting outside on a bench, using earphones to talk. "So? What was boring?" "Hmm." Mai thinks. "Pretty much the stuff, you hear in morning announcements, just longer." "Really? No secret plans to take over the world?" "Nope" "And I hoped that we ended up in an anime, fighting the mad students council of the high school division." "What?" From behind, Luca's voice is heard, and he soon appears on Mai's phone's screen. "You want to fight your students council?" The two girls start laughing. "No!" Mai laughs. "Just the president." April comments. "By the way, Mai, I've heard he is quite handsome?" Mai smiles. "I heard the same. I can't agree though." "Okay, now I'm interessted." "You're almost as Rara!" "I'm definitely not your cousin!" "But you talk like Rara-chan." Mai explains, "And, well, going by some of my classmates, he is quite nice and so on, but I don't really agree." "No Prince Charming for Mai?" Luca asks. "Nope." "But, why?" "From what I've heard, he is extremely clever and helpful, kind, charming and so on." Mai explains. "But, to be honest, he doesn't seem like that to me." She tells about the meeting in the corridor of the school, and in the end, Luca starts laughing. "Some kind, if we return to your 'seizing the world' theory, he reminds me a bit of this character in this anime." "Which one?" April asks. "The notebook one." "Then, he is Kira Star-chan?" April starts laughing. "I doubt that!" The three friends start laughing. "What a great conclusion. The students council president of the high school division is Kira Star and plans to size the world. How?" "Maybe with hypnotic songs?" Luca proposes. Of course, Mai knows that the theory is wrong, but that doesn't stop her from continuing on theorizing Ren's plan to take over the world. In the evening, when Mai's mother returns, Mai quickly tells her about the job orientation event in her school and asks her to ask her colleagues. Her mother agrees to do so. She wants to help Mai. A few days later, shortly before her mother and Mai are heading out, her mother stops her. "Mai? By the way, the job orientation day would work out." Her mother tells her. "Really? Great!" Mai smiles, and the two leave the house. In the train to school, Mai is in a good mood. "My Place wo Sagashiteru is selling well, the job orientation works, and today is an orchestra rehearsal. The day couldn't be better!" She tells herself. However, soon, her mood changes. In the lunch break, Mai heads out to spend the break in the Piano Room, but once she reaches the room, the door is locked up. Surprised, Mai tries to open the door again. "Huh?" She is surprised, and a bit afraid too. "Why is the door closed?" She asks. She turns around, hoping that anyone could help her, but of course, the students do neither know why the room is locked up, nor do they notice the panicking girl. "Why could the room be locked up?" She asks herself. "Hmm… Usually, the majority of rooms are closed the day over, but this one was always open…" It doesn't take much time until she realizes whose fault this could be. "The students council is in charge of managing the rooms outside of school hours…" A certain face appears in her mind. "Ishikawa Ren. I was right. He's definitely not 'perfect'." She quickly puts her hands in front of her mouth, afraid that someone might has heard her. Suddenly, from behind, someone calls out Mai's name. Surprised, and a bit afraid that someone noticed her, she turns around. Eriko approaches her and Ren follows her. Unlike Ren who doesn't show much emotions, Eriko seems to be happy. "Mai-chan! Hey!" She greets her. "I wanted to thank you" She happily says. "Thank me? Why?" Mai, still distracted by the room, asks. "Yasu-kun told me that you were able to invite some professors of the university to the job orientation." Eriko said. "Oh, that? That wasn't a problem." Mai replies. "I just asked my mother after all…" "Well, you did better than I did." Eriko smiles. "By the way, you like Kira Star-chan too, right? Did you buy her single?" "My Place wo Sagashiteru?" Mai asks after freezing for a few seconds when Eriko mentions Kira. "..Y..yes." She replies. In her thoughts, Mai sighs, "I didn't buy it, but I have the songs. I guess, that counts?" "I really like the A-side. Actually, I'm thinking of proposing the song as a project for our orchestra. I didn't find any music sheets though. I guess, it will take some time until I wrote down the melody and so on…" "Uhm…" Mai struggles. "I actually have them…" "You have? How?" Mai blushes. "Well.. I… Um.. Well…" She looks for an answer. "What should I do? What should I tell her? I can't tell her the truth. But how should I explain it?" "Did you find the time to write down the melody?" Eriko asks. "Oh, well, I hope I had." Mai nods quickly, "That's it, that's it! Well, I can give you the sheets, if you want." "That's nice." Eriko responds. "By the way, did you listen to '… wo suki' already?" "Yeah, why?" Mai asks. "Did you read the lyrics? What do you think about them?" "Um… I don't know?" Mai replies confused. Ren, who has been standing quiet next to Eriko the whole time, sighs a bit, "Did you read them?" He asks Mai. "Yes…?" Mai asks. "Did anything happen to Kira?" She thinks. "Maybe someone hacked her? Or the one who should be Kira has gotten active again?" "Do you think that she has got a boyfriend?" Eriko asks. "Eh?!" Mai is surprised. "No, no, I don't think that!" "Hmm… But why would she then write those lyrics?" "Eriko" Ren starts speaking, "I'll go to the biology room already, okay?" Eriko grimaces, "You could be more interested in current trends, you know?" "No, thanks. Some girls that dance around and try to sing? That isn't really my taste." Ren replies before leaving. Mai doesn't seem to be happy about his words, and so is Eriko. Eriko sighs obvious. "He can be a jerk sometimes." She comments. "But, well, I wonder why she hasn't said anything on social media. I mean, when was the single released?" Almost automatically, Mai replies, "Friday." "Yeah, that was it." She remembers. Not too much later, Mai is sitting outside with her phone in her hand, browsing through various blogs. "So… The lyrics of '… wo suki' are believed to be … a letter to my boyfriend?" Mai asks unhappy. "That's…" She shivers. "That's not true…" A single tear leaves Mai's eye while she continues to browse through the internet. "What should I do now…?" Mai doesn't notice that another student is watching her. Ren is working on his tablet, typing down some things. Eriko is sitting next to him on a bench outside on the school grounds. "What did those two girls want of you?" Eriko asks Ren. "You seem annoyed…" "The usual." He replies. "The usual as in what? There're two 'usual'" "The typical clumsy girl needs help-usual." He explains annoyed by it. "So, yeah, I am annoyed." "Well, if they want to, they could do something useful instead. Taking an example on you, for example." Eriko, who stands at the wall, blushes, "You think so?" Ren nods and silence fills the room as both continue working. It doesn't take much time until Eriko breaks the silence again. "I wonder why Mai-chan was so… awkward today? She seemed a bit sad, I'd say." She asks. "I don't know." Ren says without looking up, obviously not caring. "And I don't really care." He adds quiet. "And, I wonder why our ghost player didn't play today…" "I locked the room." Ren repeats. "If your 'ghost player' wants to use it, he's got to ask the students council. That's the rules, period." He didn't know that said 'ghost player' was standing behind them. Mai hasn't been listen the conversation on purpose, but now, she listens. Despite wanting to give Eriko the music sheet of 'My Place wo Sagashiteru', she runs away. Following this, Mai is walking away, rather lost in thoughts. Suddenly, she walks into Touma and, of course, stumbles. Her sheets which she was holding in her hands before. She pulls Touma with her too who, unlike Mai, is able to catch himself. "Oi! What's that supposed to be?" He asks annoyed. "Silly girl." Without helping Mai, he walks away. "Sakaki? Are you okay?" Ren, who noticed the whole scene, approaches her. "Oh, that's nothing new. I'm kind of always falling over my own foots too." Ren sighs but a small smile appears on his face while he gives Mai a hand to stand up. "For a second, I have to admit, I lost myself in those silver-grey eyes that looked like stars at the night sky. They seemed a bit lonely though." Mai's voice explains dreamy. "Although, he managed to destroy this fairy-tale-like moment within seconds." She is back to reality. "By the way," Ren starts. "Could it be that you are this piano player who often plays piano in lunch break?" Mai cringes. "No…" Ren looks at hear, raising his eyebrow. Obviously, he knows. "I… Um… Yes." He points onto the sheets. "Take care. It's windy today, and they could fly away. Why don't you use a tablet?" "I prefer to feel the paper in my hands, and I can't really use music writing programs, so I use pencil and paper." Mai replies while putting the sheets back into the folder. "So, you like to write songs?" He asks curiously. He is surprised as he didn't expect such a hobby from Mai. "Wha-what?! No! Never! I just play!" Mai replies, desperately trying to convince the students council president. Of course, Ren doesn't believe her. "You just said that you dislike using music writing programs." He retorts. He doesn't seem annoyed though. "No, no!" Mai repeats. "You misunderstood me…" She desperately looks around. "I… just use a program.. To… Um…" Ren sighs for a second time, although for different reason, then, he smiles. He gives her the sheets with an old, handwritten version of '… wo suki' being visible, he had collected. "If you like playing the piano and writing music, then why don't you talk honest about it?" Ren asked. "If you like it, just say it." Mai nods and watches the students council president leaving. She smiles before taking her bag and walking away too, although into another direction. "Ishikawa-senpai did not know that he actually gave me two advices." Mai thinks. "I would talk to the students council tomorrow, and I would tell Kira's fans that they misunderstood the lyrics." She smiles and the wind blows through her hair. She pulls the music sheets closer to herself. "He was still a jerk though." Once coming home, she starts her computer and directly opens the program, she used before. "Everyone, please read this regarding the content of '… wo suki'." She reads out aloud while typing. "Those lyrics are not about a 'boyfriend', I could have or similar or any other things, I have read about in the last days. '… wo suki' is written about my favourite music instrument: the piano. To be honest, I am terribly bad in playing in public, and I don't think that I am good in playing it, but I still keep on playing. I know my piano very well, I guess, and tuning ect. isn't a problem to me. It's actually quite easy, but I know many people who don't dare to touch the strings of a piano. None of my friends actually knows of 'Kira Star'. And I don't want them to know it. Sometimes, it's actually quite difficult to keep it from them as a secret, but it's exiting. I really love my piano, and whenever I am playing - and I would love to play always - I wonder if we, the piano and me, will find new melodies to play." Mai looks around herself and stops at the sheets on her bed. She smiles. While Mai continues her monologue, she also starts playing on the keyboard. "Sometimes, however, it feels like despite playing the right musical notes, the music doesn't make any sense. And, of course, my piano doesn't feel like I do. It's a piano, it doesn't have feelings after all. But I could never stop playing piano. Stopping, or just questioning that is like questioning the whole world. And, my dear, I now know what people say about "Saying things in the internet is easier than in reality." Mai smiles while sending the quite long post. "I think that that will do it." She thinks while looking towards sun who is approaching the horizon above Tokyo. In the school, Ren unlocks the piano room. He opens the door, looking in. He immediately sees the piano and a few sheets laying on it. He smiles again for a few seconds before turning around and closing the door. He doesn't lock it again though. Ren leaves the corridor as last student. The ending starts. Category:OnlineStar Category:User:Millyna Category:Transcripts Category:OnlineStar Transcripts